Duke Data Accessioner

Data Accessioner provides a graphical user interface to aid in migrating data from physical media to a dedicated file server, documenting the process and using MD5 checksums to identify any errors introduced in transfer.

The Data Accessioner provides a graphical user interface to aid in migrating data from physical media to a dedicated file server, documenting the process and using MD5 checksums to identify any errors introduced in transfer. The software also offers a way to integrate metadata tools into the migration workflow. The tool is primarily designed for use by technical services librarians in small institutions with little or no IT support.

The Data Accessioner is comprised of three main components; a graphical interface, a migrator, and a metadata manager. The migrator recursively navigates a file tree, copying it to a given destination with the option of skipping specified files and directories. It also creates a MD5 checksum for both the original file and the new copy, comparing the two to detect and notify the user of any errors. As of version 1.0 the migrator also runs each file through FITS and sends the results to the metadata manager. The metadata manager, by default, transforms the FITS output to PREMIS (v 2.2) object metadata although this can be changed by updating an XSLT. Previous versions used Jhove, Droid, and custom metadata manager plugins.
While the software’s website does not give any information on volume or file format limitations, a University of Illinois case study encountered both. Overall, the user was extremely happy with the software; however, the project was unable to migrate information in CDA format and encountered a JVM error when attempting to migrate a large backup disk.

The Data Accessioner uses a simple and straightforward Graphical User Interface.
If the user wishes to exclusively run the migratory element of the software it must be done through command-line; however, this should not be necessary in the vast majority of uses.

The project’s goal was to create software for technical services librarians, able “to be easily adopted by smaller institutions with little or no IT staff.” Metadata customization, however, entails either editing the FITS to PREMIS XSLT or modifying the application's source-code, which requires solid knowledge of application design.